


There Will Be Rest

by Hotspur



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Nessun Dorma, Turandot - Freeform, meteor showers, opera - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-27
Updated: 2013-05-27
Packaged: 2017-12-13 04:20:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/819901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hotspur/pseuds/Hotspur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor comes back to visit Grace for a meteor shower. Adorableness and Puccini ensue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There Will Be Rest

Grace ended up saying yes. The crazy man in the blue box had returned, shown up on her porch like a lost puppy, and asked her to come with him.

Three years ago, Dr. Grace Holloway had met a man called the Doctor- a Time Lord with two hearts, a soft voice, and penchant for trouble. He had dragged her on a race against a rival Time Lord, the Master, in order to save the world from destruction on the eve of the new millennium. In the end, he had offered for her to join him on his travels, but, despite that she felt she had met the right man, she refused.

Then the adorable nutter in the frock coat had landed in her yard, parking his Type-40 TARDIS on the flower bed. When she came home, she found him sitting on her front porch, talking to a stray cat and looking for all the world like he had expected to be somewhere else entirely.

He probably had.

Grace was just getting out of her station wagon, hefting a pair of grocery bags. As she kicked the door of the car closed, she turned around to see him sitting there with a tabby.

"Doctor," Grace barely managed to say, losing her grip on one of the paper bags. It crashed to the concrete but she didn't care- he was back.

"Doctor!" He walked up to her and picking up the fallen bag. "I'm still wearing the shoes you gave me!" he said, delight in his voice.

"Good!" Grace said, looking down at the shoes that had been left behind by that fink Brian. If only Brian could know who his shoes now belonged to... before Grace could react, the Doctor had scooped her up in a hug. 

"What are you doing here?" Grace asked.

"Here to see you, of course," he replied. "There's a meteor shower tonight and I wanted you to watch it with me."

“A meteor shower? Neat,” she replied. “I suppose I can come. I’m on call tonight, though.”

“Don’t worry,” the Doctor said, helping her with the groceries. Before long he was tugging her into the TARDIS.

“I never thought I’d see this thing again,” Grace said, stepping into the control room.

"We're glad you're back," the Doctor replied. "We've been alone, not as much fun without a friend."

"Still life threatening?" Grace asked as the Doctor hurried around the console, throwing switches and strategically hitting components.

"Absolutely," the Doctor replied with too large a grin. The Doctor attracted danger, somehow managing to land in a middle of a gang fight, die in surgery, regenerate, end up with amnesia, and face his old enemy, the Master, all in one night. "Now, you are going to have the best seat in the for the shower," he said cheerfully. He looked over the console at Grace, with a big smile. He gripped the lever and pulled.

The TARDIS slammed into action, entering the time vortex and jerking both travelers wildly. Grace hung on to the console, now grinning as maniacally as the Doctor. When the TARDIS finally stabilized, Grace caught her breath and glanced around the cavernous, Victorian control room, then back at the Doctor, still smiling his stupid, sweet grin.

“We’ve arrived,” he said proudly.

“Where are we?” Grace asked.

The Doctor was still grinning. He ran down to the door, practically dancing. “Have I told you, I love these shoes?” he asked, delight in his voice. 

“Yes, you have!” Grace laughed. She then gasped as the Doctor opened the doors of the TARDIS. They were suspended in space, the Horsehead Nebula shining brilliantly in the distance.

“What do you think, Grace?” the Doctor asked, suddenly standing, as usual, an inch away from her. 

“It’s incredible,” Grace managed. “And I thought bigger on the inside...”

“All of time and space,” the Doctor replied. He reached out for her hand and she accepted. She smiled- of all things, there was a quick rush of joy at feeling his smooth, cool fingers with hers. 

Grace had felt guilty. She’d killed him. Made a fatal mistake (even if that mistake had been stupidly not studying Time Lord physiology at med school) that had cost him his seventh life and lead her to give up in frustration. Then the Doctor had latched onto her, begging her to believe in her childhood dream of holding death back.Then, he had saved her. He’d been so sweet to her, such an amazing friend and prospective beau. And yet, Grace turned him down.

They sat down at the doorway, looking out into the expanses of the so-called known universe. The promised meteors streaked across the sky, racing one another into oblivion. No, it wasn’t across the sky- they were in the sky itself.

Nessun dorma! Nessun dorma!   
Tu pure, o, Principessa 

Grace looked behind her, into the TARDIS. “Wait, that’s-”

“Puccini,” the Doctor replied. “I trust you know this one?”

“Of course, it’s “Nessun Dorma” from Turandot,” Grace said.

“I know, not Madam Butterfly, but still wonderful.” the Doctor said, putting his arm around her as she shivered.

Nella tua fredda stanza,  
guardi le stelle

The two Doctors- the surgeon and the wanderer- watched the magnificent show of light playing out in space. Three hearts beat, feeding off of oxygen and opera from the TARDIS. 

Che tremano d'amore  
e di speranza.

“You told me about watching a shower with your father,” Grace said. She was leaning up against the Doctor, warm again.

Ma il mio mistero è chiuso in me,  
il nome mio nessun saprà!

Pavarotti continued singing from the TARDIS’s CD player. 

“Yes... my father,” the Doctor replied, sadness in his voice. “My father’s gone now. But I still remember that night... the brilliant colors. It was fantastic, Grace. You should have-”

“Seen it?” Grace finished. “I’m seeing it now.” 

No, no, sulla tua bocca lo dirò  
quando la luce splenderà!

The Doctor kissed her temple. “Indeed we are,” he said softly as Pavoratti hit the most dramatic part of the aria.

Ed il mio bacio scioglierà il silenzio  
che ti fa mia!

“It means ‘There will be no rest,’” Grace intoned solemnly. She wrapped her arms around the Doctor- her Doctor- the one who healed her heart and gave her the urge to heal others. “Will there be any rest for you, Doctor?”

Il nome suo nessun saprà!...  
e noi dovrem, ahime, morir!

“Maybe someday.” the Doctor replied. “But I have these fabulous shoes, how can I not run?” He paused. “You know this part?”

“Of course,” Grace replied. She sighed, closing her eyes and leaning her head on his shoulder and singing along in her mind.  
 _  
“Dilegua, o notte!  
Tramontate, stelle!  
Tramontate, stelle!  
All'alba vincerò!  
vincerò, vincerò!”_

_Nobody shall sleep!...  
Nobody shall sleep!   
Even you, o Princess,   
in your cold room,   
watch the stars,   
that tremble with love and with hope.  
But my secret is hidden within me,  
my name no one shall know...   
No!...No!...   
On your mouth I will tell it when the light shines.  
And my kiss will dissolve the silence that makes you mine!...  
No one will know his name and we must, alas, die.  
Vanish, o night!   
Set, stars! Set, stars!   
At dawn, I will win! I will win! I will win!_


End file.
